Politifact Gets it Wrong on Trump Gun Claim

Posted on November 2, 2016

On November 1stPolitifact did an inaccurate fact check on a statement made by Presidential Nominee Hillary Clinton. Clinton said of Trump, “He even said, on his very first day in office, he would require every school in America to let people carry guns into our classrooms.”

Politifact rated this statement as True. There is a significant problem with this True rating. The most glaring problem is Trump never said the word “require.” Trump used the word “able” and I am sure I do not need to explain the difference between these two words. One is by force and the other by choice.

What Trump actually said was he would get rid of gun free school zones. In typical Trump fashion, he jumped around this issue and finally came to this point when he said: “Trained teachers should be ABLE to have guns in classrooms.” Again, the distinction between “requiring” and being “able” to do something is night and day in context. After learning this you are probably thinking this claim should be rated false. That is not accurate either. Clinton said “he would require every school in America to LET people carry guns into our classrooms.” By saying the word “let” Clinton is clarifying that it is not an actual requirement, but rather teachers could carry guns if they choose. Trump clearly did say teachers would be “able” to carry guns, in other words “let” them do it, but never said “require.”

Realistically this claim should be rated Half-True. Trump did not say “require”, but he did say “let.” As any of our regular readers know we are fans of Politifact’s work and often post their judgments. I am hopeful Politifact will correct this fact check, as they usually do when they get something wrong.

*The Political News Feed delivers content from multiple left-center to right-center sources. Content is selected automatically based on social media trends and does not necessarily reflect the views of MBFC.